Eighteen hyperscale data centres are queued up in the Scottish planning system waiting to be processed. These new data campuses will be huge – much bigger than anything that already exists in Scotland. If all the data centres in planning and pre-planning were to be built, it would more than double Scotland’s peak energy demand.
This is a resource grab for the benefit of big tech corporations. Scotland’s energy, water and land will be siphoned off and reappropriated in order that these wealthy and powerful US companies can mine our data to facilitate AI learning.
From Australia to Uruguay and now to Scotland, resistance to AI data centres is growing as people realise the impact they are having on their communities.
But the Scottish government has not yet got to grips with the huge energy and water demands these vast data warehouses consume. It is in danger of fast-tracking their permission without full consideration of their climate, environmental and economic impacts.
Please ask your MSPs to sign up to the Scottish parliamentary motion calling for a moratorium on hyperscale data centres in Scotland.